Dramatis Personae
' |image= |series= |production=40511-418 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Joe Menosky |director=Cliff Bole |imdbref=tt0708528 |guests=Jeff Pruitt as Ensign, Tom Towles as Hon'Tihl, Stephen Parr as Valerian and Randy Pflug as Guard |previous_production=The Forsaken |next_production=Duet |episode=DS9 S01E17 |airdate=30 May 1993 |previous_release=The Forsaken |next_release=Duet |story_date(s)=46922.3 (2369) |previous_story=The Forsaken |next_story=(DS9) Duet (Overall) Timescape }} Summary Major Kira believes a Valerian ship docked at the station is smuggling weapons to the Cardassians, but Commander Sisko refuses to detain the vessel without evidence. Before they can resolve their conflict, a damaged Klingon vessel arrives through the Wormhole and one of its crew transports aboard Deep Space Nine as the ship explodes. The bloodied man, later identified as the ship's first officer, whispers, "Victory!" and dies within seconds. As the vessel was only supposed to be conducting a biological survey, the crew investigates. While inquiring at Quark's, Constable Odo's head splits in two and he collapses. Quark rushes to find the doctor. Odo awakens in the Infirmary. Being ignorant of Odo's physiology, Dr. Bashir is unable to find anything wrong with him, but hints at potential trouble between Kira and Sisko. When pressed for more information, he vaguely says it is "too early to commit oneself either way." By now, Kira has found evidence of foul play among the Valerians, and informs Sisko of her intention to confiscate their cargo: he forbids her from doing so. Meanwhile, Lt. Dax and Chief O'Brien take a runabout to find the Klingons' mission recorder. During their trip, O'Brien mentions the mounting tension and makes his loyalty to Sisko clear to a complacent Dax. They find the mission recorder and bring it back to the station, where Kira attempts to win Dax's loyalty. While others quickly form alliances, however, Dax appears lethargic and only interested in reminiscing about the past. Kira sees Quark attempting to eavesdrop, and violently attacks him. Quark enters Odo's office wearing a neck brace and states his intention to file charges. Although he mentions Kira's attack, Odo is more interested in the crew's strange behavior, and decides to talk with Sisko; after he leaves, it is clear that Quark did not need the neck brace. In Sisko's office, Odo finds O'Brien reviewing the Klingon captain's log. Odo then visits Sisko in his quarters and warns of parallels between the apparent bloody mutiny on the Klingon ship and what is now happening on the station. Sisko, however, has begun meticulously constructing a clock and cannot be bothered. Odo returns to his own office to find Kira waiting for him; she solicits his help in a plan to eliminate Sisko and O'Brien. She offers to make Odo her first officer once she is in command. He pretends to go along with her. Odo reviews the Klingon log further. Before the mutiny had begun, the Klingons had discovered a collection of energy spheres with telepathic imprints of an ancient power struggle that destroyed a race known as the Saltah'na. While Odo is reviewing the log, O'Brien informs Sisko that the Valerian captain has agreed to take them with him, once O'Brien helps him escape. Odo realizes that the imprint is affecting everyone aboard the station, causing them to re-enact the power struggle that doomed the Saltah'na and the Klingon crew. Odo alone is unaffected due to his non-humanoid brain. He visits Bashir again and pretends collaboration to co-opt him into finding a way to reverse the imprint, saying that this way they can then seize control for themselves. Bashir finds a way to remove the telepathic influence from the crew and Odo plays on the trust of both Kira and Sisko to lure both sides into one of the cargo bays. There, Odo and Bashir surprise them as they are about to kill one another. Odo activates Bashir's cure. A purple gas-like cloud emerges from the crew, who regain their senses and demand to know what is happening. He orders everyone to grab hold of something stable and opens the cargo bay doors, venting the cloud into space and removing the telepathic imprint permanently. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # There's a big-time skip in this episode. In the middle of his investigation of the senior officers' strange behavior. Odo goes to Sisko’s office and finds O‘Brien. They chitchat and, among other things. O'Brien says the data interpolation on the logs won't be complete for another seven hours. Odo goes to Sisko‘s quarters to visit the commander. Then the episode takes a commercial break. Coming back. we see Odo returning to his office. Kira is waiting for him, and they chitchat about the mutiny. She leaves. Odo asks the computer about the logs and the computer says that the data interpolation is complete! (My, that was a fast seven hours!) Maybe the data interpolation took less time than O’Brien thought it would! Changed Premises # Once again Odo attempts to use pretense to extract information from Quark. Trying to determine if the Klingons revealed anything to Quark about their mission, Odo chats with the Ferengi bartender about the problems he had with the Klingons the last time they came through. Quark talks about how hard the Klingons are on holosuites. Odo comments that they do tend to bluster. Quark takes the bait at first, freely sharing what the Klingons told him about their mission. Then he realizes Odo‘s keen interest in the conversation. Quark turns and observes, “Crafty tonight, aren't we, Odo?" My point? In “Past Prologue," both he and Kira made adamant statements that Odo had no pretense. He obviously decided to cultivate that skill, in order to enhance his investigative ability. Equipment Oddities # After the Klingon ship comes through the wormhole and explodes, O'Brien says he is reading a transport signal He admits that somebody may have beamed of the ship just as it exploded. Klingon transporters can continue to function after they blow up? Now, that's engineering for you! (This would be like a computer uploading a file to an Internet sever, shorting out halfway through the process, and the file arriving at the server completely intact! It has to be tough to withstand the harsh treatment it gets from the Klingons! # Pardon me tor bringing this up, but - once again - Bashir uses his tricorder to determine that a person is dead, this time a Klingon. (See The Passenger) The tricorder may have been adjusted to improve the accuracy of life sign scans. # Sometimes this crew really misses out on the easy solutions to their problems. Lf Sisko and friends had understood the Klingon mission logs early on in the episode, a lot of needless conflict could have been avoided. They sit there in Ops watching this badly garbled transmission, and no one—no one, mind you—even thinks to turn on the closed captioning! Granted, the picture quality is poor—and sometimes when you have really poor picture quality the closed captioning doesn’t come through-—but shouldn't they at least try it’? I mean, I turned on the closed captioning in my backward old twentieth-century television and l could read everything the Klingon guy was saying! There may not be any closed captioning capability for the log recordings. Nit Central # Aaron Dotter on Tuesday, November 17, 1998 - 6:15 pm: I had wondered why when the Klingon beamed into Ops, how come Bashir did not call for transport to the Infirmary? He's done it before. I guess he said to himself "Well, if he lives, it will mess up the plot." Perhaps he realised the Klingon was too badly injured to survive another transporter beam out. # Chris Thomas on Tuesday, January 26, 1999 - 3:07 am: Why, when Odo collapses, does Quark run screaming for Bashir? Why not simply tap Odo's com badge and request help? Chris George (Cgeorge) on Thursday, January 28, 1999 - 11:10 am: Because, Chris, seeing him running around screaming is much more in character than actually thinking clearly under stress, IMHO. I mean, the Ferengi (with the frighteningly bad exception of that TNG ep. that will remain nameless) the Ferengi have not been known for handling stress well. Seniram In any case, I imagine the badge would automatically reject any attempt by Quark to activate and/or use it! # On Odo's com badge: is it real or part of his changeling self? Because when he pours himself in his bucket there is never any badge floating in it, and if he turned himself into a chair we never see a com badge on it, either. But wouldn't a complete working com badge be a bit difficult for Odo to produce, given he can't even manage a Bajoran nose? Chris George (Cgeorge) on Thursday, January 28, 1999 - 11:10 am: Regardin the combadge, I'd wager a vote that Odo somehow buries it into himself, maybe? For example, if he becomes a wood chair, the combadge is somewhere embedded in the wood, but if he were to become totally flat, like a sheet of metal or paper, he'd have to drop the badge. Just a theory! Sharon Jordan on Friday, January 29, 1999 - 8:50 am: Maybe the combadge is part of Odo, and when he is solid, Odo can actually have the combadge form actual working components. Mike Konczewski on Friday, January 29, 1999 - 10:25 am: I'd go with Chris's theory. As to why we never see the combadge in the bucket, it could be at the bottom of the bucket, or somewhere in the middle. I doubt he has the ability to create such a complex piece of machinery (kind of like a T-1000). Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, August 31, 2000 - 12:16 am: The Chief comments several times in the DS9 Guide about Odo's badge, and other objects, morphing with Odo. Possibly Changelings have the ability to absorb an object into themselves. For instance, when a liquid Odo takes up very little space, but as a solid Odo is much bigger (and according to Vortex, heavier ;-), so maybe Changelings can absorb air & other things to increase their mass? Seniram Never underestimate a changling! Will Rainey on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 8:16 pm: Regarding Odo, the combage, and his face: I assume as a matter of course that Odo can and does create the combadge out of "himself" Why then, can he not do a Bajoran (or any other) face? Simple. (IMO) He cannot do an ORIGINAL face. He can imitate OTHER peoples appearances (as in the Changeling who was Martok) but Odo did not want to go about with someone else's face, and he had no clear understanding of how to create a unique one. # Who really believes they all wouldn't be sucked out of the cargo bay along with the alien thing at the end? I mean, their legs didn't even lift off the ground! They probably braced themselves against the floor! # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, August 31, 2000 - 12:16 am: If it was Bashir who created the program to purge the telepathic energy, why was it called "Odo One"? He was creating the program at Odo’s suggestion. # D.K. Henderson on Monday, March 21, 2005 - 8:26 am: In the first scene at Ops, we see Dr. Bashir diligently working at a panel. Umm...what's he doing? He's a doctor, not a (insert appropriate functionary). His work station is the infirmary. Perhaps he had it on his list of Things to Do Today: Hang around Ops and look busy; you're going to be needed there today and they won't have time to call you in. As a member of the senior staff, he would logically be required to occasionally work in Ops. # I can't remember if this has been brought up before, but wouldn't it be logical, when Odo is knocked out, for him to lose control of his shape and melt? Not necessarily – loss of conciousness could result in a changling remaining frozen. # Kira had two Bajoran men with her when she moved openly against Sisko. There seemed to be only one with her in the docking bay when the program Odo One was activated. There also seemed to be at least one other Federation officer affected who was not in the docking bay. Were these men treated afterwards, or--disquieting thought--were they not affected and simply going along with things? More likely the effects of the Odo One program spreading throughout the station, forcing all the telepathic imprints to gather in the cargo bay. Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine